the Papistes by their deuises doe or whether we by remouing al Images and consequently the Crosse to doe derogate from Christ and from his passion as they doe which hauing the materiall Crosse can not come to the knowledge and fayth of the crucified I confesse that I am more aspre in my writing than otherwise I woulde or modesty requireth But no such bitternesse is tasted in me as the beastlinesse of them with whome I haue to do deserueth Beare with mée therfore I beséeche you beare with a truth in plaine speeche vttered Bayarde hath forgot that hée is a Horse and therefore if I make the stumbling iades sydes to bléede blame mée not Impute not to malice impacience that which is grounded of hatred to the crime but loue to the persons which be toucht I hope by this meanes that seyng their own shame they will come to more honesty or hearing their owne euill doings surceasse at leaste wyse theire euill speaking They haue nothing so rife in their deprauing mouthes wherwithall to burden our ministerie in Englande as heaping togither all base occupations to shew Fol. 9. a. b. that the craftes men thereof be our preachers I wis I might aunswere iustify the same that as great a number of learned as euer were as auncient in standing and degrée as they supply the greatest roomes and places of most credite Wherefore they doe vs wrong to match the simplest of our syde with the best of theirs As for their famous writers Rascall Dorman Martiall Stapleton which now with such confidence make their challenges be knowen vnto vs what they are But they which at home be no more knowen than contemned as sone as euer they taste the good liquor of Louain they be great clarkes Bachelers of Diuinitie studentes of the same they must be magnified they muste be reuerenced as if Apollo sodainly had cast his cortayne about them But to graūt that the inferior sort of our ministers were such in déede as these men of spyte ymagine such as came from the shop from the forge from the whyrry from the loome should ye not think you finde more sincerity and learning in them than in al the rable of their Popish chaplens their massemongers their soulepriests I lament that ther are not so many good preachers as parishes I am sory that some to vnskilfull be preferred But I neuer saw that simple reader admitted in our church but in the time of Popery ye should haue found in euery diocesse forty six Iohns in euery respect worse I could exaggerate their case alike and proue it better how Bawdes Bastardes and beastly abused Boyes haue bene called to be Bishops among them Sorcerers Simoniakes Sodomites Pestilent Periured Poysoners haue bene aduaunced to be Popes among them Shal this derogate from their holy sée Yet none of oures of any calling or name amongst vs can of enuy it selfe be burdened with the like As for the Rascall of their religion what were they what are they Adulterous Blasphemous Couetous Desperate Extreme Folish Gluttons Harlots Ignoraunts and so go through the crosse rowe of letters and truly end it with Est Amen Therfore if they vrge vs any further with imperfectiō in our state thereby to bring vs into contempt and harred we wil descēd to particularities and detecte their filth to the whole worlde We are not deare Christians the men Folio 9. b that the aduersaries of the truth reporte vs we doe not leane to our owne wisedomes we preferre not our sayings before the decrées of auncient Fathers But after the aduise of the fathers themselues we preferre the Scriptures before mennes pleasures This may we do without offence I trust The Popes themselues haue permitted vs this Eleutherius the Pope writing to Lucius King of England sayd thus vnto him Petijstu a nobis leges Romanas Caesaris In the ancient recordes of London remayning in the Guild hall vobis transmitti quibus in regno Britanniae vti voluistis leges Romanas Caesaris semper reprobare posumus legem Dei nequaquam Suscepisti énim miseratione diuina in regnó Britanniae legem fidem Christi Habetis penes vos in regno vtranque paginam Ex illis per Dei gratiam per consilium regni vestri sume legem per illam Dei patientia vestrum rege Britanniae regnum Vicarius vero Dei esto in regno illo c. Ye haue required of vs to sende the Romane and Imperiall lawes vnto you to vse the same in your realme of England we maye alwayes reiecte the lawes of Rome and lawes of the Emperor but so can we not the lawe of God For ye haue receyued through the mercy of God the lawe and fayth of Christe into your kingdome You haue both the Testamentes in your realme Take out of them by the grace of God and aduise of your subiectes a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferaunce rule your realme But be you Gods Vicar in that kingdome And so forth If the Louanistes had but a mangled piece of suche a Presidente for the Pope as here is for euery Prince Lorde howe they would triumphe They would desiphre and by rethorique resolue euery letter of it But let that passe It is ynough for thys place to shewe the Popes owne decree that all mennes deuises be they neuer so worthied with the name of Fathers may iustly be repelled and ought to giue place to the lawe of God Wherefore if any of their owne imagination haue brought in any thing to Gods seruice not altogether consonant to the worde not we but the worde doth wipe it quite away Dist 11. cap. Consuetudinem For I thinke it méete according to the decretall taken out of Augustine Consuetudinem laudare quae tamen contra fidem Catholicam nihil vsurpare dinoscitur to prayse the custome whiche notwithstanding is knowen to vsurpe nothing against the catholique fayth If this fayth be retayned I wil not contende with any but the Fathers I will with all my heart reuerence The common place of our aduersaries is to exhorte the Prince and other to kepe the aunciente traditions of our Fathers And I beséech them wyth al my heart that they will defende and mayntayne those thinges which they receyued according to truthe If tyranny of men hath brought in any thing agaynst the Gospell let not the name of Fathers and vaine opinion of antiquitie bereue vs of the sacred and euerlastyng veritie What greater follie can there be than this to measure Gods matters with the deceitfull rule of mannes discretion where the pleasure of God reuealed in his word should only direct vs They that pleade at the barre in ciuile causes will not be ruled ouer by examples but by law Demosthenes sayd very well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not méete that things should be ordered as otherwise they haue often bene Much lesse should Gods wysedome be sette to schoole vnto mannes folly
be made betwene the assertions and mindes of men were they eyther Hillarie Ciprian Agrippine or any other and canon of the Scripture Non enim sic leguntur he sayth tanquam ita ex eis testimonium proferatur vt contra sentire non liceat Concio ad Adolesc sicubi forte aliter sapuerint quam veritas postulat In eo quippe numero sumus vt non dedignemur etiā nobis dictū ab Apostolo accipere Et si quid aliter sapitis id quoque deus vobis reuelabit For they are not so red as if a testimonie might be brought forth of them which it were not lawefull for any man to gaynesay if peraduenture they thought otherwise than the truth requireth For we are in the number of them that disdayne not to take this saying of the Apostle to vs If any of you be otherwise minded God shall reueale the same vnto you Wherefore with what iudgement the fathers of the church ought to be redde Basile setteth forth by a propre similitude Iuxta totum apium similitudinem orationum participes nos fieri conuenit Illae enim neque ad omnes flores consimiliter accedunt neque etiam eos ad quos volant totos auferre tentant sed quantū ipsis ad mellis opificiū commodū est accipientes reliquū valere sinunt Et nos sanè si sapiamus quantum sincerum est veritati cognatum ab ipsis adepti quod reliquum est transiliemus We must be partakers of other mennes sayings wholly after maner of the Bées for they flée not alike vnto all flowers nor where they syt they crop them quite away but snatching so much as shall suffise for their hony making take their leaue of the rest Euen so we if we be wise hauing got of other so much as is sound and agreable to truth wil leape ouer the rest Which rule if we kepe in reading and alleaging the fathers words we shall not swarue from our profession the scripture shall haue the soueraine place and yet the Doctours of the Church shall lose no parte of their due estimation None of the Fathers but haue erred There is not any of them that the world both most wonder at but haue had their affections nor I thinke that you aduersaries to vs and to the truth will in euery respecte admitte all that any one of the fathers wrote My selfe were able from the very first after the Apostles time to runne them ouer all and straightly examining their words and assertions finde imperfections in all But I would be loth by discrediting of other to séeme that I sought some prayse of skil or else be likened to Cham Noahs sōne that seing the nakednesse of the fathers Gen. 21. wil in contēpt vtter it But bycause in ceremonies and obseruances wherein they scant agreing with themselues euery one discording from other declined all from simplicity of the Gospell we are onely burdened with the name of fathers giue vs leaue somtime to vse a Regestion let vs haue the liberty toward other which Hierome graunteth against himselfe saying Certe vbicunque Scripturas non interpretor In Apo. pro lib. contra Iouin To. 2. liberè de meo sensu loquor arguat me cui lubet Truely whersoeuer I expound not the scriptures but freely speak of mine own sense let any man that lyst reproue me Not that I wil giue so large raynes to the headdinesse of some whiche either of affection or of singularity wil néedes dissent but that I wil not exempte any from their iuste defence Ioan. 4. from triall of the spirits whether they are of God We must followe the example of them of Berrhea which trusted not to Paule himselfe but searched the scriptures whether they were so Tvvo Iudges of cōtrouersies the vvorde and the spirite But where as this precept is generall all men to iudge all men to try what doctrine they receyue this iudgement and trial to be had by the word is somewhat in dede but yet not all that may be sayde in the matter I graunt the Scripture to be a good Iudge in deede But vnlesse the spirite of wisedome and knoweledge doe lighten our wyttes and vnderstanding it shal auayle vs little or nothing to haue at hand the worde of God whereof we knowe not the sense and meaning Golde is tryed by the touchstone and metalles in the fier yet onely of suche as are experte in the facultie For neyther the touchstone nor yet the fier can any thing further the ignoraunte and vnskilfull Wherefore to be méete and conuenient men to iudge of a truthe when we do reade or heare it by the holy Ghost we must be directed In this behalfe although I knowe that the giftes of God haue their degrées yet dare I say that none is vtterly so voide of grace It is possible to trie a truthe but hath so much conferred on him as shal be expedient for his owne behoofe vnlesse he be vtterly as a rotten member cut of from Christ Vaine it were to commaūd a thing that lies not in vs and vs to deny the possibillitie when we haue a promise of a thing that shall be doth argue our inconstancy and mysbelief Wherefore syth Christ and his Apostles saye often times Videte Cauete Probate which wordes be spoken in the commaunding mode byd vs Sée Beware and Proue I must néedes conclude that we shal not be destitute of the spirit of God so farre as shal be most néedefull for vs if we doe aske the same by fayth And whereas Christ doth affirme that we shal knowe 1. Ioan. 4. And S. Iohn in his epistle doth assure vs that 〈◊〉 doe knowe Spiritum veritatis Spiritum erroris the Spirit of veritie and Spirit of error we must acknowledge and confesse that the truth is not hidde from vs further than we lyst to shut it vp from our selues But here ariseth doubtfull case If euery man shall haue authoritie to giue his verdit vpon a controuersie Tvvo kindes of examination of doctrine Priuate which shall séeme and say that he hath the spirit no certain thing shal be decréed euery man shal haue his own way no stable opinion and iudgement to be rested on Hereto I aunswere againe that there be two kindes of examination of doctrine one priuate another publique Priuate wherby eche man doth settle his owne fayth to staye continually vppon one doctrine which he knoweth stedfastly to haue procéeded from God For consciences shall neuer haue any sure porte or refuge to runne vnto but only God He when he is called vpon will heare our prayers when he is desired wil graunt vs his spirit But he hath prescribed vs a way before hand to attayne the same if we bring vnder all senses of ours vnto his word Ioan. 8. Si patrem habetis Deum quomodo non agnoscitis loquelam meam If ye haue God to your father saith Christ how falleth it
the land was inhabited And of the doings at New-hauen what an honorable peace insewed contrary to the wish and will of the enimies of God and of their countrey the Papistes we doe nowe féele thankes be to God and you can not denie But in the Catholique time as you call it what successe had you when Calleis and Guines so hardly wonne so long kept with such glory and gaine to the English name defended was easely in one .iij. dayes with shame lost More will I not rehearse of our desperate losses in that tyrannous interraigne I retourne to your visions Iulian Folie 33. a. as you cyte oute of Sozomenus had a shovvre of rayne that ouertooke him and euery drop that fell eyther vpon hys coate or any other that accompanyed him made a signe of the Crosse Agayne When the saide Iulian counsayled the Ievves to repaire the Temple of Ierusalem destroyed by the Romaines God to make them desist from that vvicked purpose of theirs caused the ground vvhere they had digged a great trench for the foundation to be filled vvith earth rising out of a valley And vvhen this notvvithstanding they continued their vvorke God raysed a great tempest of vvinde and skattred all the lime and sande vvhich they had gathered and caused a great earthquake and killed al that vvere not baptised and sent a great fyre out of the foundation and burned many of the laborers And vvhen all this nothing discouraged them a bright glittering signe of the healthfull Crosse appered in the element and the Ievves apparell vvas filled vvith the signe of the Crosse The application of these two histories which for this purpose I set out at large that they may the better be considered will make you glad to scrape them out of your booke For ye fare as a foole that walks in a net or as the children whose head being hidde they thinke their bodies can not be séene Although ye cast some shadowes ouer you and think that your head is hidde in an hole yet your eares be so long that they do bewray you When thus ye haue heaped vp as many mysticall figures of the Crosse as you and your learned Counsell can ye gather a fine conclusion of them that God vvilleth all hys Folio 34. highly to esteeme the thing vvhich those figures signified and to beleue that as those figures vvrought temporall benifites to the Israelites so the truthe that is the Crosse it selfe shall vvorke vnto his electe and chosen Children beleuing in hys Sonne Iesus Christ and hauing his signe printed in our foreheads the lyke benifits effectes vertues spiritually and much more greater First who tolde you that the truth of these figures was the Crosse it selfe vnlesse by a figure ye take the Crosse for the crucified Then that those figures wrought temporall benifites how can you proue Sure if they were causes of any good that came they were Causae stolidae as Tully calleth them meane and instrumentall causes as the Axe is cause of the wood cleauing and not efficient Thirdely if ye would haue concluded well Distinguenda fuissent ambigua those wordes that diuerslye may be taken should haue bene seuered into their diuers significations that we might haue knowne how to haue vnderstoode your mastership When ye ioyne the truth and the Crosse togither what Crosse can I tell you speake of If it be according to your promise afore the Crosse in the fourth signification for thereof ye saide you woulde onely entreate then is not your Crosse the truth it selfe but a figure still wheras ye couple the belief in Christ and hys signe printed in our foreheads togither what signe is that the Crosse with a finger If ye meane it so ye make an vnméete comparison the one being necessarye the other ydle and vnlawfull too This am I sure your meaning is by couert spéech to deceiue the simple and cause them to deriue the glory from the truthe and transferre it to the figure to haue in reuerence your idle signe and let the thing signified be forgotten As for the figures of the olde law marke what Tertullian sayth and thereby shall you learne a better meaning of them than your meane skill considereth Aduersus Martio li. 3. for thus he sayth Sacramentum mortis figurari in praedicatione oportebat quanto incredibile tanto magis scandalo futurum si nudè praedicaretur quantoque magnificum tanto magis adumbrandum vt difficultas intellectus gratiam dei quareret It behoued the Sacrament of the death of Christ to be sigured in preaching For how much more it is incredible so much more offensiue should it be if nakedly it had bene preached and by howe much it was more glorious so muche the more it was to be shadowed that the hardnesse of vnderstanding myght séeke for the grace of God So farre Tertullian But how little grace of God you haue in sticking still to the easie letter and neuer seking the glory of the death is to wel séene by your doings The signe of the Crosse was shewed to Constantine he was not yet become a Christian It was expedient to haue a miracle We doe professe great skill and knowledge and shall we not beleue without a signe That which was once done shall it be asked euer That which was commaunded to one alone shall it be drawne a president for all Folio 34. The signe of the Crosse vvas shevved to Cōstantine in his great anxietie ye saye to instructe vs that in all anxietie of minde and pensiuenesse of heart the Crosse of Christe shall be our comforte So farre I graunt And the signe you say to be a meane to ouerthrovv our enimies Where finde ye that God hath moe meanes of comforte then one he deliuereth his that are in daunger by diuers wayes We reade that when Alexander the great Iosephus li. 11. Ca. 8. for deniall of Tribute to be paid vnto him was vtterly in minde to destroy Hierusalem and was marching thither with an huge army which no power of theirs was able to resist Iaddus which was the chief bishop then put all his pontifical attire vpon him and caused the rest of his cleargy to doe the like and went forthe to méete the tyraunt so Alexander no soner saw him but he lighted frō his horse fell flat on the ground before him The lusty roysters that were about him meruailing at this so sodaine chaunge from wrath to worshipping from force of armes to submission and praier specially to a Priest wheras the Prince vainly supposed himself to be a God and where he minded before in heat of his displeasure vtterly to haue destroyed them nowe to become contrary to his nature an humble suppliant to them Alexander made answer thus When I lodged in Dio a Citie of Macedon such a personage as this of like stature like apparell in all poynts appered to me and willed me to set vpon Asia promising that he would guide me in the voyage and in
of the Crosse is hoysed vp the iniquitie of the deuil is dryueÌ„ backe teÌ„pest of vvinde is calmed Wherupon I besech you doth he inferre the deuil doth disquiet vvinde squat it not vpon the mention of a ship wtout a mast whervpon dyd he talke of the Church Crosse or the ship Crosse If the mast of the ship dyd no more preserue and saue the vessel than the Crucifix on the altar or Crosse in the roodlofte can do the Church neyther should the ship be preserued in the water nor the Church at any tyme be consumed with the fyer We neded not to feare if your opinion were true the burning any more of Paules Make a Crosse on the steple and so it shal be safe But within these fewe yeares it had a Crosse and reliques in the bowle to boote yet they preuailed not yea the Crosse it self was fyred fyrst Wherfore S. Ambrose hys rule as you most fondly do take hym holdeth not If ye say that hys rule doth holde notwtstanding bicause Paules was burned in the tyme of schisme I answere that in your most catholike tyme the lyke plague happened twise within the compasse of .l. yeares and therfore S. Ambrose was not so foolysh to meane as you imagine As for LactaÌ„tius LactaÌ„tius whose verses ye bryng to confirm the vse of a Roode in the Church I myght say wyth Hierom. Vtinam tam nostra potuisset coÌ„firmare Ep ad Paulinum In HieremiaÌ„ 10. quam facile aliena destruxit I would to God he had ben able aswel to haue confirmed our doctrine and religion as he dyd easely ouerthrow the contrary For many errors and heresies he had among the which I myght reken thys flecte genu lignumque crucis venerabile adora bow down thy knée and do honor to the worshipfull wood of the Crosse For vpoÌ„ the word of the Prophet Hieremy Lignum de saltu pracidit He hath cut a trée out of the forrest S. Hierom taketh occasioÌ„ to speake of the Gentils Idols adorned with golde and siluer of whoÌ„ it is said Psal 113. A mouth they haue and speake not eares they haue and heare not And least it myght be thought that the making honoring of such appertayned peculiarly vnto the heathen he sayd Qui quidem error ad nos vsque transiuit Which error in dede hath come ouer vnto our age And theÌ„ inferreth thys Quicquid de Idolis diximus ad oiÌ„a dogmata quae sunt coÌ„traria veritati referri potest Et ipsi enim ingentia polliceÌ„tur simulachruÌ„ vani cultus de suo corde coÌ„fingunt Imperitorum obstringunt acteÌ„ à suis inuentoribus sublimantur In quibus nulla est vtilitas quoruÌ„ cultura propriè gentium est eorum qui ignorant deum Whyche wordes are in English these Whatsoeuer we haue spoken of Idols may be referred vnto al doctrines contrary to the truth For they also do promise great thynges and deuise an Image of vayne worship out of their own hart They blind the eye of the ignoraunt and by the inuenters of them are set a loft In which there is no profyt and the worshipping of which is an heathenish obseruaunce a maner of suche as know not God Wherfore the wordes alleaged by you as out of Lactantius suffised to discredit him bicause he wil haue a pece of wood to be worshipped Omitting al his other errors and that Gelasius the Pope in consideration of many hys imperfections rekeneth his bokes inter Apocripha such as may be read no doctrine be grouÌ„ded on But I wyl answere to you otherwyse disproue it if you can I veryly suppose that those verses were neuer written by Lactantius The causes that induce me to this are these In catalogo S. Hierom makyng mention of al hys wrytinges yea of many moe than are come vnto our handes maketh no mention of thys Agayn Churches in hys time were scarcely builded for he liued in the raigne of Dioclesian by whom he was called into Nicomedia as Hierom wryteth Afterwarde when he was very old he was scholemaster to Crispus CoÌ„stantinus soÌ„n and taught hym in Fraunce Now in the raigne of Dioclesian the poore ChristiaÌ„s had in no countrey any place at al whether they myght quietly resort and stande still a vvhile loking on the Roode Folio 43. vvith his armes stretched handes nayled feete fastened They had neither leisure nor liberty to be at such ydle cost They coÌ„tented theÌ„selues with poore cabanes wherto they secretly resorted yet notwtstanding had them pulled on their heades Eusebiê° writing of the persecutioÌ„ vnder DioclesiaÌ„ Lib. 8. ca. 2. sayth Oratoria à culmine ad pauimeÌ„tuÌ„ vsque vnà cum ipsis fuÌ„dameÌ„tis deijci diuinásque sacras scripturas in medio foro igni tradi ipsis oculis vidimus We saw with our eyes that the oratories he calleth theÌ„ not teÌ„ples for so thei wer not wer vtterly thrown down froÌ„ that top to the grouÌ„d yea with the very fouÌ„datioÌ„s of theÌ„ and that the sacred holy Scriptures in the mydst of the market place wer coÌ„mitted to the fier TheÌ„ was it no tyme for them to make Images of Christ whose fayth without perill they could not professe nor solemnly to set vp Roodes where priuatly they had no place therto And this was in the most florishing tyme of LactaÌ„tiê° Yea afterward in the beginning of CoÌ„staÌ„tinê° raigne Maximinê° gaue liceÌ„ce first the Christians might build Dominica oratoria The Lordes places of praier And the first teÌ„ple that CoÌ„staÌ„tinus built was at HierusaleÌ„ the .xxx. yeare of hys raigne wherfore me thinketh impossible it is that Lactantius should wryte Eus lib. 9. cap. 10. Sozom. li. 2. cap. 26. Quisquis ades medijque subis in limi na templi with the rest of the verses rehersed by you Then howe different the doctrine is both froÌ„ that which himselfe teacheth and generally was receaued in his daies the leud verse Flecte genu lignuÌ„que crucis venerabile adora sheweth for in hys boks he playnly affirmeth Diui. Insti li. 2. ca. 1. cap. 9. Diui. Inst lib. 2 ca 19. that no maÌ„ ought to worship any thynge on the earth And further he sayth that whosoeuer wyll retaine the nature and condition of a man must seke God aloft in heaueÌ„ not in earth in hart not in workmaÌ„ship of hand His argumeÌ„t is this Si religio ex diuinis rebus est diuini auteÌ„ nihil est nisi in celestibus rebui careÌ„t ergo religione simulachra quia nihil potest esse caeleste in ea re quae fit ex terra If religioÌ„ coÌ„sist of holy things and there be nothing holy but in heauenly thynges then Images are voyde of religion bicause in that thyng which is made of the earth ther caÌ„ be nothing heauenly You wil grauÌ„t me now that a Roode is made of some earthly matter of stone or tymber TheÌ„ doth LactaÌ„tiê° repute it vnholy to haue no religioÌ„
Idolatry as Augustyne playnly reporteth Yet were they nothing the lesse Idolatrers For thys he sayth of them In psa 113. Videntur autem sibi purgatioris esse religionis qui dicunt nec Simulachrum nec daemonium colo sed per effigieÌ„ corporalem eius rei signum intueor quam coiere debro They séeme to be of more pure religion which say I neyther worship the Image nor the power thereof but by the corporall lykenesse I beholde the signe of the thyng which I ought to worship Yet notwithstanding bicause they called their Idols by the names of Vulcanus and Venus as we our Images by the name of Christ and of our Lady bicause they dyd some outwarde reuerence to their Idols as we vnto our Images both for them and vs as Augustyne sayth Apostoli vna sententia poenam damnationemque testatur One sentence of the Apostle witnesseth our punishmente and condemnation And what sentence is that Qui transmutauerunt veritatem Dei in mendatium colürunt seruierunt creaturae potius quam creatori qui est benedictus Deus in secula Which turned the trueth of God into a lye and worshipped and serued the creature forsakyng the creator which is the blessed God for euermore But how is the truth turned to a lye and the creature rather serued than the creator It foloweth in the place alleaged Effigus à fabro factas appellando nominibus earum rerum quas fabricauit deus transmutaÌ„t veritatem Dei in meÌ„datium res autem ipsas pro dijs habeÌ„do venerando seruiunt creaturae potius quam creatori By calling the pictures made of the workeman by the name of those thinges which God hath made they change the truth of God into a lye And when they repute and worship the thynges themselues as Gods they serue the creature rather than the creator Wherefore Augustine noted very well that Paul priore parte sententiae simulachra daÌ„nauit posteriori autem interpretationes simulachrorum in the firste parte of hys sentence condemned Images and in the latter the interpretation and meaning of them So that if your cause be all one with the Gentiles and excuse one and yet both of them condemned by the Scripture and conuinced by authoritie It foloweth that no Roode nor Crucifixe in the Church oughte to be suffered for it is Idolatrye Of the same metall that the Crosse is made we haue the candlestickes we haue the censors yet they which most do thinke that God is serued with candlestickes censors attribute not that honor vnto them that they do to the Crosse What is the cause S. Augustine declareth Illa causa est maxima impietatis insanae quod plus valet in affectibus miseroruÌ„ similis viueÌ„ti forma quae sibi efficit supplicari quam quod eam manifestuÌ„ est noÌ„ esse uiuentem vt debeat à viuente contemni Plus enim valent simulachra ad curuaÌ„daÌ„ in foeliceÌ„ animaÌ„ quod os habeÌ„t oculos habent aures habent nares habeÌ„t manus habeÌ„t pedes habent quam ad corrigendaÌ„ quod non loquentur nón videhunt non audient noÌ„ odorabaÌ„t noÌ„ coÌ„trectabuut non ambulabunt Thys is the greatest cause sayeth he of thys mad impietie that the lyuely shape preuayleth more wyth the affections of miserable men to cause reuerence to be done vnto it than the playne sight that it is not liuing is able to worke that it be contemned of the lyuyng For Images are more of force to crooke an vnhappy soule in that they haue mouthes eyes eares nosthrels handes and feete Then otherwyse to strayghten and amende it in that they shall not speake they shall not sée they shall not heare they shall not smell they shall not handell they shall not walke And so farre Augustine Which wordes myght vtterly dehorte vs from Imagery and dryue both the Roode and the Crosse out of the Church Psa 134. if we were not such as the Prophete speaketh of become in most respect lyke them For with open and feling eyes but with closed and dead myndes we worship neither séeing nor liuing Images More could I cite aswel out of hym as out of the rest before alleaged for confirmation of thys trueth of myne I could sende you to the .4 boke of Aug. de ciuit Dei ca. 31. Where he commendeth the opinion of Varro that affirmed God myght be better serued wythout an Image than wyth one I coulde alleage hys boke de haeres ad Quod yult deuÌ„ Where he meÌ„tioneth one Marcellina whose heresy he accompteth to be thys that she honored the pictures of Christ and other I could referre you to hys boke de Con. Euan. Li. 1. Ca. 10. where he sayeth Omnino errare merueruÌ„t qui ChristuÌ„ noÌ„ in saÌ„ctis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus quaesicruÌ„t They haue béen worthy to be deceiued that haue sought Christ not in holy bokes but in paiÌ„ted walles These I say with diuerse other I could bring forth but that I thinke that thys suffiseth to proue that the fathers wer not so foÌ„dly in thys case affected as you would haue it appeare to other Folio 4 4. Concerning Paulinus I wyll not greatly contende wyth you but that in his dayes which was .448 yeare after Christ there was in some Churches the signe of the Crosse erected Epi. 3. ad Aprium But as I sayd before it suffiseth not to say Thys vvas once so But proued it must be that Thys was wel so Paulinê° coÌ„mendeth the woman that separated her selfe froÌ„ her own husbande without consent vnder cloke of religioÌ„ And hath the word of God the lesse force therefore which sayth Whom God hath coupled together Mat. 19. Ad Cithe rium let no maÌ„ put a suÌ„der Paulinus affirmeth that the boke of the Epistles which the Apostles wrote layd vnto diseases headeth them and shall we thynke that in vayne it is that the Lord hath created medicines of the earth Eccle. 38. He that is wyse wil not abhorre theÌ„ He that wyll folow whatsoeuer hath bene is a very foole I know that IustiniaÌ„ taketh order which is yet but politique that no man build a Church or monastery but as reasoÌ„ is by consent of the bishop and that the byshop shall set hys marke which by hys pleasure shoulde be a Crosse But what is thys say I to the Roode or Crucifix in places consecrate where God is serued The same answer that I made before to the Synod which was kept at Orleance may serue to thys Emperoures constitutioÌ„ although it be not preiudiciall to truthe if he that lyued by your wise computatioÌ„ a thousand yeare after Christ in dede fyue hundreth thirtie at the least in tyme of great ignoraunce and barbaritie In catalogo post prefationeÌ„ Folio 45. should enact a thyng contrary to a truthe Yet to say the truth I sée no cause why I should not admyt his graue authorite since he neyther speaketh of
worde it was that he charged them wythall that was the treasure that being well bestowed Ioan. 4. Apoc. 22. Ioan. 6. Cantic 8. Psalm 119. Sap. 18. Naum. 2. Math. 16. 1. Cor. 10. Apoca. 15. should bring infinite pleasures with it For his worde is the lyuely water wherby the heates of our lusts are quenched the breade of lyfe to féede our hungry soules the pleasaunte wyne to cheare and make vs merry the lanterne to guide our steppes the sworde that ouerthroweth the enimies of the truth the fyrie shielde to defende vs agaynst our aduersaries the sure rocke wherevppon to builde the touch stone to try out doctrines what spirits are of God the key to open shut heauen gates the swete tuned instrumēt to passe away the tediousnesse of this our exile the medicine for all dyseases the ioy the iewell the only reliques of Christ departed hence which if we minde to knowe his will as it becommeth obedient children if we do loke to be heires with him as all men do make a rekening of then must we seke obserue and haue alwayes in reuerence For hence is the perfecte knowledge of all truth onely to be had and all other blessednesse in as ample wise as if that Christ were before our eyes ready to perfourme and pronounce the things Wherefore sith the Scripture is worthyed of these titles and none of them can iustly be applyed to the Crosse sith the worde is the ordinary and only meane that God now vseth for instruction of his the Crosse is a scholemaster of error and impietie let no man pleade ignorance for his excuse which may wel be increased but refourmed neuer by a beggerly boke of woode or stone As for the other percell of your aunswere that bycause all men can not so conuenientlie at all times heare a good preacher Folio 117. a. as they may see the signe of the Crosse therefore the Crosse must be had beside preaching I may tourne the argument on your owne heade that the more generall the matter is and more easily come by being in it selfe vnlawfull the more seriously it ought to be reproued the more iustly condemned For whereas Images doe but infecte the hearte are occasions of fall and nothing else it is a perillous matter the poyson to be more generall than the medicine the remedy to be harder than the offence to come by Bonum quo communius eo prastantius sayth Aristotle A good thing the more common it be the better it is The more vve may see a crosse the vvorse But a mischiefe the more it spreadeth the more it anoyeth And of all mischief an Image most For Images Crosses Crucifixes are euery mannes ware A good preacher is scarcely to be founde in a countrey Images continually doe preach Idolatry the preacher can not alwayes open his mouth against it Images are likely to seduce a multitude all men of nature being prone to Idolatry The preacher is able to persuade but a fewe fewe men inclined to credit sounde doctrine Wherfore the doctrine of a good preacher a gay puppet set vp in the church being direct contrary the lesse we may heare the preacher the more we may sée the puppet the lesse is our comforte in Christ our Lorde the more doe we stande in the Diuels daunger As for affectiō to be stirred by Imagery Leude affections stirred by Imagery I graūt they may be some but not such as they ought For impossible it is as in the preface is declared an Image to come in place of Gods seruice not allure to a wicked worship Experiēce hath taught vs examples doe proue the princes for their pleasure erecting Images haue bred the vile affection of Idolatry The booke of Wisedome is most euident therin Then if the picture of a liuing mā a mortall creature be of such force to crooke the soule what shall we thinke of Images of them that are reputed saincts of the Image of Christ our God and sauiour Luc. 10. Act. 14. Gala. 3. Whose names be written in the booke of lyfe they care not for their faces to be paynted on a post They that aliue abhorred any worship wyll not being dead prouoke so great offence Christ the as God wil be honored in truth must not to the world be set forth with a lye nec qui spiritu coeperūt carne consumādi nor they that began in the spirite must be made perfite in the fleshe The heathē the beleued not immortalitie of soule were altogither vainglorious and proude had a pleasure to haue their Images set vp their childrē reioyced in their parents folly but this must not be taken as president for vs Christians For they had no other rewarde of well deseruing we looke for an other maner of crowne of glorye 2. Tim. 4. 1. Petr. 5. which is layde vp in store for vs against a better daye They had no lawes to forbid such coūterfets yea the law it selfe to excite men to vertue decréed Statuas in foro Images in the market place Deu. 4.5.7 1. Ioh. 5. Car. Mag. Li. 3. ca. 15. We haue law inough from the maiestie of God to condemne Images in place of prayer Wherfore I may say with the good fathers of Franckeforde Si homines mortales proteruia vanitatis inflati c. If mortal men puffed vp with frowardnesse of their owne vanitie proude of worldly pompe bragging ambitious bicause they coulde not be in all places would be magnified in some place bicause they loked for no heauēly profit would therfore haue an earthly prayse Shal thys inforce vs to make a picture of our God who is in euery place can be contained in no place whose seate the heauens are whose fotestole is the earth who is wonderfull in all places can with the eye be discerned in no place Where hys vertue is so great hys glory so excellent hys myght so vnmeasurable he is not with coloures to be portrayed to be séen in temples made with mans hande to be honored or knowen in a beggerly picture but to be set forth in hys worthy workes soughte for in the heauens worshipped in heart the Prophet saying Adorate dominum in atrio sancto eius Psal 28. Ioh. 4. Worship the Lord in his holy Sanctuary And the Euangelist Deus spiritus est qui adorat deum in spiritu veritate oportet adorare God is a spirit and they that worship God must worship hym in spirite in truth Thus haue I proued that our affections to God warde nether ought nor cā be styrred vp by the vaine painters or caruers craft howsoeuer mens fansies are delited with them Yet to consider your own histories Whē Alexander the great was faire and finely painted Iulius Cesar beholding him was made more ambitious and he that otherwyse could haue bene contented with hys own estate was throughe a picture made a plague of the world Scipio the Aphricane by loking on hys